Obj. ID: 43901
Jewish Funerary Art Jewish cemetery in Tarnogród, Poland
According to ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, the cemetery was founded in 1580 (possibly in 1588) and is located approximately 500 m east of the town square, beyond the city limits, by Przedmieście Różanieckie. Data from 1820 indicates that its total acreage was 1.79 hectares (ha). During the interwar period, it was enclosed with a wooden fence. There was also a mortuary, and three ohels (two made of wood and one made of stone). In 1941 the Germans completely destroyed the cemetery and used the tombstones to pave roads. In 1942 the cemetery became the site of executions and the victims were buried in unmarked mass graves.
After the war, the cemetery was used for various purposes, and the southeast part was divided into house plots. The current cemetery covers a trapezoid-shaped plot of land, measuring 1.56 ha. Between 1985 and 1990, funded by the Schorer and Scheiber families from the United States, the area was cleaned, and enclosed partly with a metal fence and partly with a stone wall. Tombstones recovered from the city were made into a lapidary, and several were returned to their original location. Memorials were erected dedicated to the people who were killed in the cemetery and in the two additional locations outside of it where mass executions took place. There are currently approximately 300, mostly fragmented, tombstones in the cemetery, the oldest of which dates to the mid-18th century.
The cemetery has a concrete wall from the street side. On the other sides, the cemetery is fenced with a metal fence about 1.8 meters in height, which is damaged in many places.
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